The Army is nearly 14% short of the recruits it will need to fill its ranks, marking the first time in six years — and only the third in the last 20 — that it may fall short of its recruiting goal for the year.

The Army’s top officer for recruiting, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Snow, acknowledged in an interview with USA TODAY on Thursday the difficulties in attracting young men and women to the active-duty Army in an improving economy and the greater effort his recruiters are taking to find new soldiers.

“It is a challenging mission, and we’re not going to get around that,” Snow said. “And there are indications that the economy is going to continue to improve. ”

Snow, who took command this summer, expressed confidence that recruiters would hit the goal of 59,000 new recruits when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.